A process for the production of such a kind of a stamper generally comprises applying a photoresist to the surface of a glass substrate to form a photoresist layer, subjecting the coated material to heat treatment, cutting the coated material with Ar ion laser beam to form an indented pattern composed of pits or grooves as a latent image, and then developing the latent image to form a master stamper having an intended pattern provided on the surface thereof. The master stamper thus formed is subjected to sputtering, electroplating or the like to form a nickel layer thereon which is then peeled off the substrate to obtain a stamper body.
The stamper body has an unnecessary resist left attached to the surface thereof which is then cleaned away with an organic solvent such as acetone. Thereafter, the other surface of the stamper body is polished to prevent the generation of error signal. During this procedure, the stamper body has a liquid protective agent coated on the surface thereof to protect the pattern on the surface of the stamper body. The stamper body thus polished is punched at the periphery thereof to produce a stamper having a desired shape.
However, the production process is disadvantageous in that the removal of unnecessary resist with an organic solvent takes much time. Further, the use of an organic solvent worsens the working atmosphere and may cause ignition. The production process is also disadvantageous in that the protective agent which has been applied to the surface of the stamper body before polishing of the other surface thereof needs to be cleaned away, causing similar troubles. Moreover, when the surface of the stamper body thus comes in contact with the solvent or protective agent, the pattern on the surface of the stamper body gets out of shape, causing error in reading or noise generation.